The World of Stuff .com

2007: The Year in Review

Another year has slipped away. And this was a big one. Between graduating from high school and starting college in a faraway city, I’ve faced things I’ve never had to face before. And, by all accounts, I’ve managed pretty okay. But that’s not all that happened in 2007. Let’s take a look back and see just how wild and crazy this year has been.

• January 3 – I get Christmas gifts from my pen pal Natasha in the mail.
• January 9 – I become a TA for Mr. Mumtaz’s Web Design II class.
• January 23 – My transition to Linux begins as my dad and I try unsuccessfully to install Ubuntu on a spare PC.
• January 24 – The first printing of The Easiest Best Thing Is Be Kind, edited by my friend Luke and containing a poem by me, is delivered.
• January 28 – I accompany Luke, Michelle, and Megan at a rally against the genocide in Darfur.
• February 4 – Beowulf 2: This Time It’s Personal, starring Nick, Mark, Justin, and me, is released on the Internet.
• February 10 – I go to the St. Elizabeth Spring Festival.
• February 14 – I switch from Windows to Ubuntu.
• February 28 – I go on a completely pointless school field trip to a prescription filling facility and an outdoor mall.
• March 6 – Having been assigned by an assistant principal to produce fire exit maps of the school gym and auditorium, Joe and I present our work.
• March 8 – The fire alarm goes off at school.
• March 23-25 – Vacation at my great-aunt’s condo in Fort Pierce.
• March 27-28 – Two bomb threats at school in as many days.
• April 6 – The World of Stuff is four.
• April 11 – First edition of From Canada with Love.
• April 18 – I become an emo kid for a day.
• April 21-22 – Grad Bash at Universal Studios.
• May 5 – I help bring my school to second place at the annual computer programming competition.
• May 9 – I take the AP Calculus BC exam and get a 5 (the best possible score).
• May 17 – I accompany members of my programming class in making a disastrous technology-related presentation to half the school.
• May 17 – I take home an $800 scholarship from the senior class award ceremony. (The streakers at the concurrent football game were Andrew and Tyler, who had slipped out from onstage at the award ceremony only to return unnoticed!)
• May 18 – A third drive-in outing with Andrew, Tyler, and pals.
• May 22 – Food fight on the second-to-last day of school.
• May 23 – Last day of high school.
• May 24 – At the senior breakfast, I find out that I’m the salutatorian of my class.
• May 25 – Prom night!
• May 29 – I graduate from high school.
• June 4-9 – Cruise to the Cayman Islands and Jamaica. Yeah mon!
• June 13 – Luke, Brian, Michelle, and I meet with our former history teacher, Ms. Vazquez, two days before she moves to Texas.
• June 16 – My graduation party.
• June 19 – I help welcome a friend arriving home from a year in Italy.
• June 27 – I get a laptop (christened daytripper at Luke’s suggestion) with Ubuntu pre-installed.
• July 5-6 – My sister and I attend Preview, the freshman orientation at University of Florida.
• July 9 – I join the 2000s and get a Facebook.
• July 13 – My 18th birthday.
• July 21-23 – I read the last Harry Potter book.
• July 29 – TWoS’s first ever contest begins.
• August 11 – The Change Contest ends. I guess I’ll contact the runner-up about that guest post…
• August 15 – Fun trip with friends to South Beach!
• August 17 – Last day of work.
• August 18 – I move into my dorm at UF.
• August 23 – First day of college classes.
• August 31-September 3 – First weekend home from college.
• September 5 – I join a club on campus: Get Carded.
• September 17 – A fellow UF student speaking out at a John Kerry forum colloquially entreats not to be stunned with an electroshock weapon. I am disturbed by the video.
• September 18-19 – I attend two protests against the tasering, skipping a class for the first one. (Later, in a sudden outbreak of common sense, I apologize for giving a care.)
• September 26 – My sister and I go to a new chiropractor for the first time.
• October 3 – I vote in the Student Government elections.
• October 24 – The Dvorak Keyboard and You makes the front page of del.icio.us and the second page of Reddit.
• October 25 – Honors registration, man… it’s crazy.
• October 31 – I enjoy Halloween by going to see The Nightmare Before Christmas in 3-D and checking out some haunted houses in my dorm.
• November 3 – I go to UF’s homecoming game against Vanderbilt. We win!
• November 6 – I see childhood hero Bill Nye (the Science Guy).
• November 12 – I go to a concert on campus, which my friend Sean goes from his own college to see.
• November 13 – Two years after quitting, I start shovelglove exercises again.
• November 16 – The WoS Store opens.
• November 17 – Some friends from FAU come up to UF for the first meeting between our football teams. Then we hang out.
• November 30 – My aunt takes my sister and me to a restaurant and art galleries in downtown Gainesville.
• December 5 – Last day of classes for the fall semester.
• December 8 – To celebrate our RA’s graduation, a bunch of us from the floor take her to her favorite restaurant.
• December 14 – Finished with my exams and a final paper, I head home.
• December 18 – It’s official: I have a 4.0!
• December 25 – Christmas.
• December 27 – Fun trip with friends to Key West!

Where do I see myself at the end of 2008? I’m glad you asked. I don’t really know, actually. I don’t things could change as drastically as they have in 2007. I’ll still be in college, hopefully, and I’ll probably be working on that computer science major. I hope to be in a relationship, or at least to have been in a relationship. Actually, just to be dating would be nice. We’ll just have to see, I guess.

Just one link today: Top Ten Astronomy Pictures of 2007.

With that, I wish you a great ’08. See you next year!